Stocking washer



rag/w R. G. WHITLOCK STOCKING WASHER Filed June 11, 1954 March 26, 1957 INVEN TOR.

Robe r! a? A TTOR NEY nited States atent i STOCKING WASHER Robert G. Whitlock, Denver, Colo., assignor of one-half to Henry H. Grueter, Denver, Colo.

Application June 11, 1954, Serial No. 436,066

2 Claims. (Cl. 68-213) This invention relates to manually-actuable devices of hollow container type employable for the practical and eilicient washing of delicate fabric articles and items of wearing apparel, and has as an object to provide an improved such device characterized by high practicality and enhanced operative efficiency.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand washer suitable for the cleansing of stockings and analogous delicate fabrics without damage to the articles washed therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand Washer convenient of use and manipulation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand washer adapted for low-cost production from readily-available materials.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand washer characterized by novel means for generating swirling and counter-current effects of high cleansing efiiciency in a liquid charge therein in reaction to manual actuation of the unit.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hand washer that is simple and convenient to charge and condition for use, positive and rapid in operation, arranged for simple emptying of its charge, light in weight, and susceptible of production in a wide range of sizes and capacities.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of elements as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a typical embodiment of the invention, a portion thereof being broken away to better illustrate otherwise concealed construction.

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partially in longitudinal section, of the organization according to Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken substantially on the indicated line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section diametrically through a closure member utilized to complete the organization according to the preceding views.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the closure member shown in Figure 4.

The delicacy of many fabric articles and items of wearing apparel, such, particularly, as stockings, laces, and the like, precludes the washing thereof by mechanical means or violent techniques. It is a wide-spread practice to wash such items and materials by hand and, usually, immediately after use, hence the instant invention is directed to the provision of a washer adapted for hand manipulation and applicable to the efficient cleansing of delicate fabrics without damage thereto and with marked facility and convenience.

The improved washer is an approximately ellipsoidal, rigid, hollow container, somewhat resembling a conventional football in size and appearance and constituted from an upper half shell portion and a lower half shell portion 11 mated in opposition at their free margins and permanently interengaged therealong. The half shells 10 and 11 are closely similar and each approximately scaphoid in form. The half shells 10 and 11 are alike in that the free margin of each defines a modified ellipse in a plane containing the major and minor axes thereof, in that the base area of the half shell is formed in a plane spacedly paralleling and symmetrically centered relative to the plane of the shell free margin, and in that the walls of the shell arcuately diverge from the periphery of the base plane and to the free margin plane. The free margins of the half shells 10 and 11 are identical in size and conformation to exactly register with each other when the half shells are mated in opposition to define a hollow container, and one of said margins is internally rabbeted to coact with an external rabbet on the other of the margins to complete an interlock susceptible of being sealed and secured as a permanent joint intercoupling the shells. An additional feature of identity marking the half shells 10 and 11 is the provision of an integral rib 12 instanding from the shell wall intermediate the base and free margin plane of each half shell and extending orbitally entirely about the internal wall thereof, each of said ribs being formed with a marginal lip 13 defining a plane parallel to that of the base and free margin of the associated shell and spaced inwardly from the adjacent shell wall to outstand toward the free margin plane of the shell; the said lip 13 hence defining the inner Wall of a channel orbitally of the shell and opening toward the free margin plane thereof.

The half shells 10 and 11 diifer slightly in that the plane base 14 of the half shell 11 is expedient-1y somewhat smaller than the plane base 15 of the half shell 10, in that the plane base 15 is intersected by a circular opening 16 centered therein, and in that the half shell 10 is formed with a pair of spacedly-parallel, integral ridges 17 exteriorly obtruding arcuately of each nose, or tapered end portion, of the shell while the complementary half shell 11 is preferably furnished with three such ridges 17 spaced one from the other in an analogous arrangement. It is the function of the ridges 17 to serve as finger grips facilitating handling and manipulation of the shell assembly, and since the unit is adapted to rest on the base .14 and to be manipulated with the base 15 uppermost, it is practical to provide three of the ridges 17 in position to be gripped by the fingers and but two of the ridges 17 positioned for engagement by the thumbs, whereby to coin plete an organization convenient of handling and operation in a natural and practical manner.

The opening 16 is the sole access to the interior of the shell assembly after-said shells have been registered at their free margins and permanently interconnected, and said opening is hence of a size as large as may be practically accommodated in the transverse dimension of the base 15. For mounting coaction with a closure membet, the opening 16 is smoothly circular within and through the uniform thickness of the material forming the plane base 15.

The closure member of the unit is a cap of moderatelyflexible, stitfly-resilient material adapted for removal and replacement relative to, and for sealing coaction within, the circular opening 16, and is characterized by a flat, annular rim 18 adapted to smoothly overlie the outer area of the base 15 surrounding the opening therein, an integral lifting tab 19 outstanding radially from said rim, a dished central web 20 offset and concaved away from the plane of said rim, and a frusto-conical wall 21 connecting the periphery of the web 20 to the inner circumference of the rim. The wall 21 of the cap is formed to a maximum diameter at the periphery of the Web 20 slightly exceeding the diameter of the opening 16 and converges to its junction with the rim 18 to define an annular, tapered shoulder frictionally engageable with a Patented Mar. 26,

snap fit within and to expansively seal against the margin of the opening 16 with the rim 18 snugged against the adjacent outer area of the base 15, the moderate flexibility of the material from which the cap is formed accommodating insertion and removal of the cap with the application of little force. With the cap mounted in and to close the opening 16, the web 20 is bulged interiorly of the washer unit in opposition to pressures and forces obtaining within the unit during and as a consequence of unit manipulation, which pressures and forces act to press the slightly-yieldable web outwardly of the unit and to ward the position indicated by broken lines in Figure 3 with corresponding expansion of the wall 21 into nonleaking and tight-gripping engagement with the edge of the opening 16.

The half shells 1i and 11, and the closure cap, are designed for and adapted to production from synthetic resin material by conventional processing techniques, thus providing that the unit may be produced in transparent form, if desired, or from an attractively colored, lightweight material of recognized low cost. Produced by pressing or molding, the half shells 10 and 11 register accurately in mated relation and are susceptible of permanent interassembly through closing and sealing of their common orbital joint by means and techniques that are practical, expedient, and well known; various adhesives and heat-welding practices being available to permanently close and fully seal the joint between the shell halves.

In the operation and use of the improvement shown and described, the completed washer unit is opened by re-- moval of the closure cap from its seat in the plane base 15, a charge of Water of appropriate temperature is introduced through the opening 16 in an amount to but partially fill the unit interior, soap, detergent, or the like, is added as desired to the water charge, the articles to be cleansed are then inserted through the opening 16, and the cap is replaced and snap-seated to close the opening 16. The charged unit is then gripped at its ends by the hands of an operator and is agitated, preferably up and down in a substantially vertical direction, to shake and agitate the unit contents. When the charged unit is so agitated, the water impinges against the ribs 12 and is thereby deflected and diverted to create a complex of currents, jets, and eddies within the unit which repetitiously and effectively penetrate the material moving in and with the water charge and hence rapidly accomplish a very thorough cleansing of the articles. The smooth interior of the unit, interrupted by only the rounded lips of the ribs 12 and the smooth inner face of the cap, presents no source of damage to the articles under treatment and reacts with such articles under only the very moderate pressures incident to movement of the water charge in response to agitation of the unit.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in the form, construction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

1. A washer of the character described adapted to be held in the hands and shaken in all directions, comprising a rigid, ellipsoidal, hollow shell formed with plane base areas parallel to a plane containing the long axis of the shell registered in spaced opposition at the midlength of the shell sides, an access opening through one of said areas coactable with a removable closure cap, whereby said shell may be supported at rest by the unapertured base area with the long axis of the shell horizontal and the apertured area uppermost, and a continuous rib integrally protruding from and extending orbitally of the shell inner wall at each side of and in spaced parallelism with the plane containing the long axis of the shell which parallels said base areas.

2. A washer of the character described adapted to be held in the hands and shaken in all directions, comprising a rigid, ellipsoidal, hollow shell formed with plane base areas parallel to a plane containing the long axis of the shell registered in spaced opposition at the midlength of the shell sides, an access opening through one of said areas coactable with a removable closure cap, whereby said shell may be supported by the unapertured base area with the long axis of the shell horizontal and the apertured area uppermost, a continuous rib integrally protruding from and extending orbitally of the shell inner wall at each side of and in spaced parallelism with the plane containing the long axis of the shell which parallels said base areas, and channels coextensive with and recessing the opposed sides of said ribs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 747,849 Bierley Dec. 22, 1903 1,210,395 Anthes Jan. 2, 1917 1,366,418 Remmert Ian. 25, 1921 1,713,979 Redmond May 21, 1929 2,061,145 Duffy Nov. 17, 1936 2,082,614 Brodrick June 1, 1937 2,410,323 Wellman Oct. 29, 1946 2,499,025 Horvath Feb. 28, 1950 2,549,644 Silverman Apr. 17, 1951 2,618,143 McConaughy Nov. 18, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 729,958 Germany Ian. 5, 1943 854,941 Germany Nov. 10, 1952 

